


A Missing Bird

by Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds



Series: A Rogue Day [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Some bad language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28374726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds/pseuds/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds
Summary: There's been an Arkham breakout, so it's all hands on deck amongst the Batfam, trying to round them up. But their night's about to get worse, when they realise Red Robin seems to be missing...
Series: A Rogue Day [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935070
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a companion fic to "A Rogue Day", focusing on the rest of the Batfam as they realise Tim is missing and try to find them. It'll be a little darker than the first fic (as they don't know the rogues who have Tim are actually trying to help him, in their own way).  
> It'll probably be roughly 2-3 chapters long.

When news came through that there had been an Arkham breakout, the whole Batfamily was tense. _Please don't be the Joker. Please don't be the Joker._ The Riddler. Mr Freeze. And _ah yes,_ the Joker.

A vague plan was quickly drawn up, with a list of places to search where the rogues were most likely to go to ground/plot their villainous schemes, and the family set out. Batman took Robin with him in the Batmobile, and Nightwing set off from the cave on his bike. Cass had been hanging out with Steph, so Black Bat and Batgirl headed out together. Red Hood and Red Robin both radioed in from their respective apartments that they were setting out too. Oracle gave everyone their allocations and was scouring her data streams, trying to catch wind of their escaped rogues.

The first sighting of a rogue was made by Nightwing, who found Mr Freeze setting up shop in one of the warehouses he'd been allocated to search. Batgirl and Black Bat were nearby and so reallocated to assist him and, between the three of them, the ice-cold menace was quickly detained and shipped back to Arkham.

It was Robin who first came across the Riddler, having stretched his leash to Batman as much as possible, and run ahead to make a start clearing the next site. The Riddler and this Robin had only met the once before, but they did not get on, even by vigilante-rogue standards. Damian had very little patience for the man's riddles, refusing to play along at all, which angered the villain. He'd spent the past few hours he'd been free coming up with a great puzzle, so when a mardy kid came charging through, refusing to play his game, he was not pleased. What the outcome would have been if Batman hadn't come in, catching up with his wayward son, well, who knows? But between the two of them, Batman and Robin took the man down without any of his ploys getting a chance to come to fruition. They left him with the GCPD, ready to be delivered back to Arkham.

Now there was only the Joker to find. Oracle started to check in on everyone's progress, having been busy coordinating the capture of the two villains they had found.

"Red Robin, Red Hood, either of you found any trace of the Joker?" she asked over the comms.

"Zero sign of the bastard yet O," Hood replied.

"Red Robin?" Oracle asked again. The tapping of keys could be heard in the background. After a few seconds passed and no reply came, the sound of tapping ceased, indicating she had switched to a private line to try and hail him. The others continued their searching for the Joker, but waited apprehensively for an update.

"Red Robin's comm and tracker are being blocked," Oracle announced a few minutes later. "It's being done in a way that my system didn't get an alert." She told them the location of the warehouse where his signal had disappeared."

"Who's closest?" Batman asked.

"Batgirl and Black Bat."

"Right, you two go search the warehouse. Let us know what you find," Batman instructed. "The rest of you, continue with your existing assignments."

Steph was apprehensive as she entered the abandoned warehouse, glad to have Cass at her back. The building appeared empty, but she wasn't going to let her guard down, particularly considering there was a monster on the loose and this is where her teammate had dropped off the map. The two of them scoped the place out, but her initial assessment seemed to be true; the place was empty, apart from the odd weed growing and bits of litter on the ground.

"Oracle, we've checked out the warehouse," she announced, "No sign of Red Robin, and no obvious sign of any fight having gone down."

"Copy that Batgirl. I've managed to narrow down the last signal from Red Robin, and it came from the North-West corner of the warehouse."

"We'll double check that corner again then, O." Steph was mainly doing so for thoroughness, rather than actually expecting to find anything, so was surprised when Cass indicated to something on the ground. In amongst a small puddle of green-ish looking liquid was what looked like it could be the remains of Red Robin's comm. Steph reached out a hand to grab it, but Cass pulled her back.

"Dangerous." She pulled a knife out from _somewhere_ and used it to poke the comm out of the goop. The thing looked half-melted, like it had perhaps been dipped in acid, so it had probably been a good suggestion for Steph not to touch it, even with her gloves on.

"I think we've found Red's comm. Well, what's left of it."

"What's happened to it?" Batman interrupted to ask (clearly the conversation was being broadcast across everyone's channels, or his at least).

"We found it in a as yet unidentified liquid. Quite possibly acid."

"Get me a sample of the liquid, and what's left of the comm," Oracle told her.

"Everyone else, head towards that location," Batman commanded. "As of now, we are operating on the assumption that the Joker has Red Robin, and is most likely to be found in the vicinity of Red Robin's last known location." He gave out new allocations of areas to search within that area. Once Batgirl had dropped off her evidence at the Clocktower, she rejoined Black Bat, who was part way through searching a derelict apartment building.

Time passed, the team got more and more on edge, and no sign was found of Red Robin nor the Joker. For a second, Nightwing got excited, thinking he'd found something, but it was just a run-of-the-mill drug deal, so once the GCPD arrived to collect the criminals he'd tied up for them, he was back searching again.

It was Red Hood who came across the first more promising lead.

"I've got activity here. I've spotted seven goons entering the building, and no one's left yet. I'm going in."

"Red Hood, wait for back-up," Batman ordered. "Nightwing should only be five minutes out from your location."

"Fuck that, B. I'm off in." He shot a grapple across to a nearby building, careful to remain in the shadows to stop any goons who might be watching the outside of the warehouse from spotting him. There was a window just beneath the roof on that side of the building. He grappled up to it then carefully forced it open, not wanting to alert any of the occupants of the place. It was a bit of a drop down, but there was a raised walkway below the window. He dropped himself down, silently cursing the impact on his knees and ankles, and hoping no one heard his landing.

An instinctive part of himself that he couldn't suppress cringed when he looked down onto the main shop-floor of the building and spotted the Joker. The villain almost looked to be holding court, sat at the head of a table, surrounded by men, with papers littering the desk in front of him. If you squinted, he almost looked like B sat at a board meeting (except of course, B doesn't have green hair, and would almost certainly look less manically happy and more stiltedly repressed and bored). There were a couple of heavy-duty vehicles parked up nearby, presumably for use in whatever job they were planning.

"I've got eyes on the Joker," he whispered into his comm.

"Hood, please, we can't risk him getting away," Batman answered. "We're converging on your location. Wait for us to have him surrounded before you make your move." Jason was so thrown by hearing B actually say _please,_ he froze, rather than throwing himself over the railing as he'd been planning.

"I'm on site," Nightwing announced.

"Copy that, Nightwing," Oracle acknowledged. "There should be a service door on the west side of the building. Pick the lock, and get ready. Batgirl and Black Bat, you'll be entering via the door on the north side. Batman and Robin are going to join Hood in ambushing them from above."

"You have two minutes to get here, then I'm taking down the clown whether you're here or not," Jason told them all through the comms, though mainly addressing Bruce.

Those two minutes were almost up when he heard the quite sound of a grapple, then feet gently landing on the walkway behind him. Bruce was pulling his constipated-worried face, and the Demon brat followed behind, looking his usual level of angry/stabby. Steph and Cass radioed in to say they were in position too, and Oracle went over the plan once more, before counting them in.

All at once, the three of them fired their grapples and dove over the balcony towards the unsuspecting criminals below. Jason fired off (rubber _\- urgh_ ) bullets as he flew, before landing feet-first into the Joker. B touched down next to him (he'd almost certainly have liked to have been the one to slam into the Joker, but hadn't bothered arguing with Jason on this, knowing he wouldn't back down easily). He could hear the rest of his family brawling with Joker's goons, whilst Jason started punching the monster in the face.

"Where is he?" he demanded

"Who?" the Joker asked, grinning to show the blood dripping on his teeth.

"You know who! What have you done with him?" Joker almost looked confused for a second, before glancing around the room (seemingly unbothered by how badly his goons were faring in the fight).

"Wait, are you missing a Birdie, Batsy?" he smirked. "Where's... what do you call him? Dead Robin? Wait, no, he's Dead Robin, isn't he?" he crowed, gesturing towards Jason. "But I guess this one might be following suit..."

"WHERE IS HE?" Jason commanded, letting his fists fly. Batman ended up practically pulling him off him. Jason was half expecting a lecture on violence, but Bruce just stood in his place, pulling the Joker up by his lapels and leering in his face.

"Where. Is. He?" Despite the menace to the question, all the Joker did was laugh. No one was able to get any further answer out of him. Batman was still questioning him regardless when the GCPD came to collect the rogue and his accomplices, with two rather nervous-looking cops pulling the Joker's rather broken body away from the Dark Knight and onto a stretcher, staring all the while, like they thought they might be attacked for getting between the Bat and his prey.

"What do we do now, B?" Nightwing asked, looking worriedly towards his father.

"You will all continue to search the city. Focus on areas not searched earlier, and those where the Joker would be most likely to have stashed Red Robin. Robin, you'll go with Nightwing."

"What will you do, father?" Robin asked.

"I'll follow the Joker to Arkham, and get some answers from him.


	2. Chapter 2

Time passed, more buildings were cleared, and there was still no sign of Red Robin. None of the goons around town claimed to know anything about his whereabouts, and it didn't sound like Batman was having much look with the Joker. Eventually, Nightwing decided to send Robin back to the cave, to go to bed. The kid had school in the morning, and would be getting precious little sleep as it was. Damian protested. Part of Dick felt proud; it was clear his littlest brother did care about Tim, no matter how much he claimed to the counter. But he needed him to obey him. Above all else, he hoped his brother actually listened to him, and didn't try to sneak out again. They couldn't do with having another kid missing.

The sun began rising on a new day. No one said anything about calling it a night, and starting fresh later, but they were all starting to think it. They had no new leads, and no real idea about where Red Robin was. Nightwing was just about to say something, when Batman spoke over the comms.

"I've received a text... from Catwoman," the man said. They stayed silent, waiting for him to say something else.

"What did it say?" he prompted after nothing else was added.

"It's an address."

"A booty call?" Hood asked. "That's fucking great for you B, but the rest of us don't want to hear about your sex life."

"It's not a booty call," Batman insisted. ("I think", he added quietly).

"What's the address? Do you want us to check it out?" Nightwing asked.

It wasn't too far from where Nightwing was.

"Heading there now, B."

"I'll go too," Hood agreed. "If only to laugh at Nightwing when Catwoman's there expecting Batman."

They met up outside the location, which turned out to be yet another abandoned warehouse. They nodded at each other, before slowly making their way in, not sure what to expect. At first, the place seemed empty. But then Hood spotted what looked like part of a suspiciously large plant. He pulled Nightwing back, instructing him to put his rebreather on. Suspiciously large plants indicated Poison Ivy might be about, and that meant they needed to be cautious.

They crept forward, looking for movement. The suspiciously large plant appeared to be some kind of... beanstalk? Maybe? It didn't look to have beans on it, but it was tall. Jason wasn't an expert on botany. Whatever it was, it stretched high, up towards the ceiling far above them. _Weird._

"What do you reckon?" Hood asked.

"Hello?" a quiet voice asked from above. _From the beanstalk?_

"Hello?" Hood shouted by louder, gazing upwards. A head peeped out from the top of the beanstalk.

"Hood!?" Jason squinted at the head.

"Red!?"

"Baby bird! Is that you!?" Nightwing gushed.

"Er... yeah," Tim replied.

"You're okay!?"

"Yeah."

"What are you doing up there!?"

"It's kind of a long story..."

"Is Ivy still around?" Hood asked, looking around.

"No, her and Harley cleared out with Catwoman."

"Harley Quinn was here too!? And Catwoman?"

"Yeah."

"What the hell happened?"

"They kind of got the jump on me..."

The two vigilantes fired their grapples and shot up towards Tim, surprised to find him sat in what appeared to be a little nest, with a cuddly hyena and _a bowl of salad? What the hell was going on here?_

"We've been looking all over for you! We thought the Joker had you! What happened Red?"

"Like I said, they got the jump on me."

"And what's with all this?" Hood asked, gesturing to the nest and its contents.

"They said they were holding an intervention," Tim mumbled.

"What?"

"They said they were holding an intervention! Harley Quinn brought me a cuddly toy! Poison Ivy tried to feed me salad, okay! Not only did I captured by rogues, they tried to give me life advice!"

"Haha! That is hilarious, Replacement!

He would have made more jokes, but they were interrupted by Batman hailing them over the comms.

"Nightwing. Hood. Report."

"B! Red Robin has been located," Nightwing told him. "He appears unharmed." Batman was asking further questions, but Red Hood cut him off.

"Update you later, B." With that, he cut the channel.

"He's not going to be pleased..." Nightwing muttered.

"Yeah, well, I don't really give a shit. I want to hear Red Robin tell us more about how he's been giving off vibes that make female rogues go all Mommy on him."

"I'm never going to live this down..." Tim groaned, holding his face in his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not totally happy with how this fic turned out, but wanted to get the other Bats' side across. I might possibly add another chapter to the ending sometime, but I think I'll probably just leave it there.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed.


End file.
